


Nostalgia

by AozoraAera



Category: Jimmy and The Pulsating Mass (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23852398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AozoraAera/pseuds/AozoraAera
Summary: Jimmy and his family team are going to win King's Cup, and everyone is here to watch him win.Including Punch Tanaka.(Sets at postgame, contains spoilers, proceed with caution.)
Kudos: 7





	Nostalgia

He did not remember ever going to this place, but for some reason, he had a feeling that he had ever been here, some time ago.

Everchip looked like a strange city—or kingdom, rather. People and the places around him were looking like they belonged to another world instead of this world, really strange. Then again, the entire world he lived in had always been weird, after all.

He looked around his surroundings, trying to distract his mind away from this strange familiarity that he had been feeling since he arrived here, as he caught sight of a familiar-looking couple, walking together towards what seemed to be an arena. He hurried to catch up with them, in an attempt to keep his mind busy.

“Hey, Uncle Kid! And, uh, the Hitomi chick!”

Lars was carrying the Moon Baby when Punch shouted to greet them, his expression seemed to indicate that he did not expect any other company than Hitomi and his daughter.

“Oh, hey, Punch.” Lars gave a tiny smile, still could not bring himself to be fully confident around Punch. Nevertheless, he did not seem unhappy about seeing another company. In fact, probably Punch could help him in handling his daughter, even though that was probably very unlikely.

“Hey, long time no see.” Hitomi smiled as she waved her hand when Punch managed to catch up with them. She was carrying Jimmy's teddy bear friend, who also smiled at him. “Come on, Moon Baby. Say hello to your dad’s friend!”

Moon Baby looked up to Punch and waved both of her hands, excited to know more about him. Punch was surprised for seeing a baby, but he could assume what happened and he decided not to ask further, as he waved back to the baby and grinned. He did not know much how to handle babies nor responding properly to her greeting.

“You guys going to the arena too? Watching the kid punching some bad guys?”

“Actually, Jimbo asked me whether or not I would join him since this one seemed to be King Cup…or something.” Lars let out a small sigh, as he remembered how he immediately gave up when he was shoved into the arena. “But I turned that offer down. I’d rather watch in the spectator’s seat along with Hitomi and Moon Baby. Besides, I’ve got a daughter to take care of as well.”

Even though Lars was very tired in being a father, but this was a responsibility that he could no longer escape from, anyway. Lars was sure that Jimmy would still remember how he lost in the first round of arena, yet he wondered why Jimmy still asked him to join anyway. Lars knew that if he forced himself to join, he would be a burden for the others. So, this time, he had to be a father for now. “You didn’t join Jimbo to the arena?”

Punch chuckled, he could not hide his nervousness. “Well, his brother came along, so I’m sure he had enough power already. But, that kid still wants me to watch his fight, so I come here.” Despite everything, Punch admitted that he was still scared of Jimmy’s brother.

“I come here because…I’ve never been to this kingdom. I’ve never seen arena fights either. But I’m certain it’s gonna be interesting, so I bring Moon Baby along too!” Hitomi smiled enthusiastically, and the way she spoke also indicated how excited she was to see arena fights. "When I told Jimmy that I was going, Jimmy told me to bring his teddy bear friend along, so I bring him here."

"I'm sure Jimmy can fight well... I wish I could join, but there would be too many people, and that would be unfair, wouldn't it?" Jonathan seemed to look pretty excited to see his friends fighting in the arena, even though he also wanted to participate. "I'm glad that Jimmy wanted me to come and watch the fight as well."

“Then, let’s watch it together, guys!” Punch also could not hold his excitement anymore. “Let’s see the Kid and his family blow an entire stadium like a hurricane!” He dashed towards the entrance of the arena impatiently, as Lars and Hitomi tried to catch up with him.

Punch felt pumped up because he was going to watch a lot of fun fights. He did not want to let his strange, disjointed nostalgia of this kingdom distract him anymore. Today was going to be a great day, and he would enjoy it.

***

The strange feeling of familiarity persisted to bother his thoughts as he made his way over the arena, and towards the spectators’ seat, but he tried his best to pay no mind to them. After all, the fights so far had been pretty awesome, and intense. The spectators around him kept shouting “Punch each other!” as the fight started, and that added the intensity. Everyone looked so energetic, and lively, including Jimmy and his family who fought in the arena as well.

Punch knew that Jimmy was strong enough to handle the entire set of fights by himself, but now that he was accompanied, he truly was unstoppable. His big brother was powerful and scary as ever. His strength showed that it seemed impossible to beat him. His mother was mostly standing back as support, but also could pack a formidable attack when necessary. His nerd-looking father blew the enemies with strange-looking spells that Punch did not understand. The synergy happening at this family was fascinating, and perhaps it would be better if Lars joined the fight as well, along with Jimmy’s creepy teddy bear friend.

He suddenly had a feeling that he missed fighting in the arena like this, but he quickly brushed it off.

***

Like a hurricane blowing the entire arena, Jimmy and his family team won the King Cup smoothly. That result was pretty much expected, considering how strong Jimmy and his family were. However, there seemed to be an additional fight before today’s King Cup ended, which seemed to be called “special exhibition fight”. Punch, Hitomi, and Lars along with Moon Baby on Lars’ lap remained on their seat, wondering who might be the challengers in this ‘encore’ fight would be. People around him kept mentioning that Jimmy would be going against the previous possessor of King’s Cup, but who might they be?

As Jimmy and his family team walked out from the preparation room to the center of the arena, from the other side, the enemy’s team also walked out from their preparation room, as both teams faced against each other. Punch was immediately taken aback as he obviously recognized the enemy’s team that Jimmy’s team was going to fight against.

“Yo, kid. My sword arm’s been itchin’ to show you why they call me Johnny Katana now.” He grinned confidently as he unsheathed his sword, which looked pretty sharp and clean. Almost as if, he was more than prepared for this fight since forever.

“We’re not gonna be pushovers this time.” She remained serious but confident. As if she was certain that her training had made her wiser, and more careful in fights, as well as more powerful.

“If you lose, Jimmy, I want you to know that it won’t make you a loser.” He smiled reassuredly. “To be a winner, you’ve just got to be the best ‘you’ you can be.” Unlike his companions who seemed excited and serious, he remained his calm demeanor, with his kind smile never left his face.

From the spectator’s seat, Punch was sitting there in silence, as the spectators around him shouted “Punch each other!” as the fight began.

He was overwhelmed by a lot of emotions that his sunglasses probably would not be able to hide them anymore.

***

That was a tough, and intense fight. It was also a meaningful fight for Punch, even though he did not participate in there, just witnessing at spectator’s seat. Punch found himself not only rooting for Jimmy’s team but also for his friends too. Alas, the fight concluded, and Jimmy’s team was victorious. Punch felt bad for Johnny because he let his katana got stolen, even though Jimmy had to do several tremendous attempts to take it away from him.

His friends fought incredibly well. Johnny really showed that he had trained his swordsmanship very well, from the way he was attacking and holding the sword, even though he was still brash and somewhat reckless as ever. Big Norman also kept everyone in fighting spirit as well, not wanting to give up and kept smiling even after his defeat. DeeDee kept her emotions in check as she was being more calculative and careful in the fight, showing that she truly had kept her emotions in control and not letting them conquer her.

The overwhelming feeling of pride, and joy, for seeing his friends again, keep improving themselves to be better every time, as well as the nostalgia of the time he had spent together with them and how much he cherished every moment of it…Punch had to keep his sunglasses on now, otherwise, people would see tears leaking out from his eyes.

Somehow, despite the loud cheering of happiness and excitement in celebration of Jimmy’s team, Punch still could hear the conversation happening at the stadium from his spectator’s seat.

“Hey, no fair! You cheated!” Johnny protested, understandably, since his katana got stolen by Jimmy, but DeeDee seemed to think otherwise.

“Nah, the kid beat us fair and square,” DeeDee said calmly as if she had accepted the defeat, unlike her past self. “We’ve got to accept that.”

“Woah, DeeDee…” Johnny turned to look at DeeDee in surprise like he did not expect DeeDee of all people just immediately accepted the defeat. Which reminded him of… “You just reminded me of the Boss.”

“Yeah?” DeeDee was also surprised when Johnny said that, considering she was the one that did not really like her boss very much, which made her realize. “Maybe he was cooler than I gave him credit for.”

“He saw something in Jimmy.” Big Norman, still with his amiable smile, remembered what he once ever said to Jimmy back at the Central Hub, recognizing that Jimmy had little Punch Tanaka in them. “So, it’s no surprise that we lost this one.”

“But, you know what?” Big Norman turns to smile reassuredly to his friends, as he patted both of them on their back. “He saw something in us, too.”

“Yeah!” Johnny exclaimed in agreement as if he understood right away what Big Norman meant. “If the boss were here, he’d say something like-“

_“Destiny is a path a man carves with his own hands.”_

From the spectator’s seat, Punch said exactly the same sentence at the same time when Johnny said it. Johnny really knew him very well.

“-Then he’d show us a roundhouse kick he’d been working on!”

Of course, Johnny would not be able to hear him said that since he was at the spectator’s seat. His friends probably did not even realize that he was sitting there and watching the entire fight, either.

“Guys…” DeeDee reminded her friends. “I think we’re taking away from this kid’s moment.” DeeDee turned to Jimmy’s team, with a small smile, as she offered a handshake with Jimmy. “Thank you for the great fight.”

After DeeDee, Norman, and Johnny took turns at the handshake with Jimmy and his family, and Jimmy returned Johnny’s katana that he stole, both teams turned around and returned to the preparation room, as the King’s Cup concluded, with loud celebration and cheers from spectators. Punch could feel water welling upon his eyes, as he lifted his sunglasses a bit and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. The happy time he spent with his friends, the nostalgia, the pride and joy…he could not handle all of this at once. He felt bad for not looking cool anymore with his sunglasses unable to hide his emotions, but he accepted this feeling of happiness and pride, towards his friends.

After wiping away his tears, he adjusted his sunglasses properly, as he watched his friends leaving his arena, and he smiled, happily and pridefully.

Johnny suddenly stopped his walk, as he turned to the spectator’s seat as if he was looking at someone there, but no one was sitting at the spectator’s seat that he was looking at.

“What’s wrong, Johnny?” Norman asked, stopped walking as well along with DeeDee.

“Nah, it’s nothin.” Johnny turned away from the spectator’s seat. “For some reason, I feel like Boss is always watching over us, feeling really proud and happy.”

Big Norman’s smile grew wider as if he felt really relieved for hearing that, and DeeDee could not help but smile as well, as the three of them continued to walk, leaving the arena.

***

“Hey, kid!” Punch waves his hand as he sees Jimmy, holding his teddy bear friend gathering with his family at the front yard of the arena, as Lars and Hitomi went to approach Helga and Andrew. “Great fights! Congrats for being the winner!”

“Oh, Punch. Thank you.” Jimmy smiled happily. “So you really came to watch the fight. I'm really glad.”

“I’m going ahead.” Buck cut off the conversation as he walked away, leaving Jimmy and Punch behind. Of course, he would not want to hang out with nerds, anyway. Punch laughed nervously, and Jimmy let out a small sigh.

Today was a great, and meaningful day. Not only for Jimmy and his family but also for Punch himself. He felt glad to be given another chance to be alive again and to be here again. He felt glad to be able to see his friends once again, in better shape, and they kept improving to be better. This Everchip kingdom, along with the arena, gave him a lot of nostalgia feelings, that now he could accept instead of brushing them away.

He remembered when he decided to sacrifice himself at Central Hub for Jimmy and his family’s sake. Even though he genuinely owed Jimmy his life and wanted to help him in the way he could, he could not deny that there were still remaining regrets. There were still things he wished he could do before he died, and there were many things that he still wanted to do.

But now, after witnessing his friends again after such a long time, even though that was from the spectator’s seat and not directly meeting them, Punch finally no longer had any remaining regrets. He accepted his fate now, and he felt really happy and peaceful.

“Hey, kid.” Punch suddenly speaks up, as Jimmy turns around to face him in confusion. With his trademark, confident smile, he said. “Thank you, for always helping Punch Tanaka.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really confident at how I wrote Petty Thugs, especially Punch Tanaka because he's way too cool, but I tried my best anyway since I can't get this idea out of my head.


End file.
